Walter's point of view

Mama gave me the money today, she finally understands. I've been trying to make them understand for a long time how this world works. Now is my time, I'm going to fulfill my place as the man of the house and grab hold of our future. Finally, my mother won't have to work. She can have her garden and live a life of ease. My wife will be able to stay at home and care for a children, as a mother should. She will finally be rewarded for all that I have put her through, she will have all the jewelry and fancy clothes she could want. Most of all though, this news is exciting because of what it will mean for my son Travis. For the first time in his life, his future looks bright. My father always said no man was meant to be a servant., now Travis never will be. I'm going to send him to college. My father once said "Seems like God didn't see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams- but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worth while." Of course it's his money that makes this all possible. He would've wanted me, his child, to rise from my status as a servant. He would be proud of me.

Allow me to play you out...

(a song about making money, and in doing so finding paradise)

Puzzle Paragraph: "Winter Dreams"

A month ago I viewed Fitzgerald in largely the same way I viewed Moses: I don't have a super concrete understanding of who this guy is and I'm not in a hurry to learn. However after reading a few of the things Fitzgerald wrote including "Winter Dreams" I've come to appreciate his writing. Dexter and Judy don't meet "once upon a time," they meet in the real world where getting the girl doesn't fix your problems, and where dreams don't come true. Really it's the American Dream that robs Dexter of his happiness in the end. One of the things Fitzgerald sets out to prove is that placing value on material wealth and the status associated with it will only hurt you in the end. It's a lesson that applies to everyone, and remains relevant even today. Part of the way Fitzgerald uses rhetoric to persuade his audience is through the use of color. He doesn't make the novel colorful by randomly adding orange planes and pink elephants, his use of color is much more complex. Every color has a meaning that circles back to the overall purpose of the story. I understand now why Fitzgerald's writing is important; I think that the themes discussed in his writing will stay with me for years to come.

Allow me to play you out...

(Freddy falls in love with a girl for some of the same superficial reasons Dexter does)

In "This is Water" students are instructed to change their default setting (only thinking about themselves) by altering their perspective. They are told that to enjoy life, they need to think of events from many different perspectives. This is not for the benefit of others, David Foster Wallace proves that doing this will cause you to perceive a world that is less harsh. By being considerate of others, you're really helping yourself gain a more nuanced perspective on life. At the end of the piece we know there are two categories of people: those who have changed their default setting and those who have not. This thinking can be applied to The Great Gatsby. Nick starts out the book saying he doesn't judge anyone. While this is certainly not true (the reader can infer from his tone how he feels about various characters) the idea that he tries not to judge others means he is making an attempt to see things from their point of view. He says that "reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope." This means he hopes that people are better than they seem, just as Wallace suggests hoping the guy who cut you off in traffic had a good reason. The two would understand each other.

Jordan Baker is in the other category, she is a bad driver but she doesn't fault herself. She only hopes to never run into someone as careless as herself, she hates those people. This example shows that she can't experience events from the perspective of others as Nick can. Because of the contrasting philosophies of these two characters, I suspect Nick's story will end much happier than Jordan's will.

Allow me to play you out...

(a song about a couple who have material wealth, but don't love each other)

Masculinity

I wasn't in school most of last week, but I see on the blog we discussed masculinity so I guess I'll address that. When I went school shopping for this year I bought a pack of three pens.

In physics, my friend needed a pen to correct his work. I only had the purple so that's what I offered and he declined. He's a pretty masculine guy, he plays tennis all the time and he keeps track of football. Accepting the purple pen would contradict that. It's not that he's ignorant or intolerant because he doesn't accept the pen, it's just not who he is and that's fine. A couple of days later, a different kid saw me writing with the pink pen and complimented it. For our purposes this kid could be considered the opposite of the first one. He has cats on his backpack and his bangs barely curl in time to miss his eyebrows. He is decidedly un-masculine. I don't want to be the kid intentionally defying convention, but really I chose a side when I bought the pen. I understood that I was buying pens for girls and for whatever reason that appealed to me. There are parallels here to the no unmarked women concept. Guys have to choose whether they are masculine or not, and this will affect their lives in subtle and occasionally not so subtle ways. How masculine you are will affect who you can be friends with. It can also open you to judgment, particularly if you are on the extreme parts of the spectrum instead of somewhere in the middle.

Allow me to play you out...

(this dude seems comfortable not being very masculine)

The Bluest Eye vs. Watchmen

While reading The Bluest Eye I was reminded of the book Watchmen several times. For those who don't know, Watchmen is a graphic novel by Alan Moore. It's not just a comic book though, TIME Magazine called it "A work of ruthless psychological realism" and ranked it among the 100 best English-language novels since 1923. It's good stuff. I've found that Watchmen and The Bluest Eye are actually structured very similarly. Both are very powerful and moving so examining their similarities may highlight why this is. Each story is told from many perspectives, the audience is meant to sympathize with and understand many different characters. But at the same time the characters are all flawed. In the Bluest Eye, Geraldine hates Pecola, but we understand why she feels that way. We see Pecola's mother fail to nurture her kids properly but we understand why she is unable to do so. In Watchmen we understand why a Rorschach was driven to become a murderer and we sympathize with Dr. Manhattan even as he loses his humanity and ceases to care for those around him.



 Perhaps the best example of all is in the end of Watchmen, when the audience understands perfectly why a character decided to destroy New York City. Neither book has heroes or villains, just people who have been broken down by society.  One of the themes of Watchmen is "who watches the Watchmen," the idea that our heroes are just as flawed as we are, we just can't see it. The Bluest Eye explores the idea the black people and the ugly people have flawed thinking just as the pretty people and the white people do. Really neither book is about its characters. The books are about ideas, they explore human nature and society as a whole.

Other similarities are how both books use disturbing/uncomfortable scenes to move the audience and make more powerful statements, and also how both books have similar writing styles in places (but I didn't have room to expand on these.)

Allow me to play you out...

(this song was used in the Watchmen movie, also it reminds me of Bluest Eye: "Quite as its kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941.")

Oppressors vs. Oppressed

The relationship that exists between the oppressors and the oppressed is one that damages both sides. The powerful, in judging others, allow themselves to be criticized for their behavior which often causes them to be persecuted as well. The piece Black Men in Public Spaces talks about the relationship between black men and the white men oppressing them. This situation hurts whites as well as blacks. White people are often criticized for being racist or intolerant. We may be the ones with power, but we are never the less oppressing ourselves in subtle ways when we attack other groups. Another example of the damaging effects of this relationship for both sides can be seen in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. The piece discusses how whites stereotype Native Americans and are generally not accepting of their culture. An example of this is when Alexie's teacher expects him to cut his hair. Because of the damage they do to Native Americans, whites open themselves up to criticism. Native Americans and others can sometimes persecute whites because of the actions of only a portion of us. An example of this relationship between whites and Native Americans can be seen today with the controversy of the Washington Redskins.

South Park pokes fun at this issue:

The whites that want to keep the name, and the Native Americans who advocate for change both feel that the other side is oppressing them. 

Allow me to play you out...

(a song about an oppressive relationship, where both sides seem to be hurt)

Scarlet Letter

When Dimmesdale dies in the conclusion of The Scarlet Letter, he confesses to his sin publicly. His reasoning is that he can convince others of the flaws in Puritan thinking by showing that even he is capable of sin. But this is not what happens, many of the Puritans misinterpret his message and think he is making a commentary on how everyone is capable of sin. In other words they don't believe that Dimmesdale actually committed the act he plainly admits to. As the book concludes, the Puritans have not learned their lesson, and the morality of Puritan society remains largely unaffected by the events of the novel. This can be seen as representing a larger theme about society: how resistant it is to change. After seeing the struggles that Hester encounters throughout the novel, most readers will be forced to at least consider their views regarding sin and how punishment for it should be carried out. But as a whole, society remains unsympathetic to Hester at the end of the book. In order for a change to be effected in society, many people have to be convinced. There are many who would never be willing to change their mind no matter how convincing the evidence may be. As with any issue, society takes a long time to change their ways regarding sin and punishment. It takes decades for society to shift it’s morals, but it should give us confidence that these changes do happen.

Allow me to play you out...

Women marked by men

During class discussion about Deborah' Tannen's piece, some people, particularly some of the boys, thought that the piece lacked a male perspective. If I remember correctly the thought seemed to be this: though women are always marked (and men are not) from the perspective of other women, this is not true from the perspective of men. I just wanted to contribute that as a boy, I feel that Tannen does accurately portray the way that I mark women and not necessarily men. It seems either I am more backwards and sexist than my male peers, or that I am more able to recognize when I mark women than they are. Putting it bluntly like that makes it seem like I think I am in the right, but I can't say with any confidence that I believe the latter more than the former. Boys have the option to wear unmarked hairstyles, which I never notice. If a girl always wears simple hairstyles however, that says something about her. It's a bit of a contradiction, how am I able to hold men and women to a double standard if I am able to recognize how unfair my actions are? I like to think that I don't judge women for their appearance any more than I would for a man, but I'm sure that's not always true. Regardless on whether they impact my overall opinions of a girl, the distinctions between different styles still exist in my head.  In the end, it seems to me that men judge women in the same way that women judge women, which is to say unfairly.


Allow me to play you out...

Gender Roles

One of the reasons The Scarlet Letter is still relevant today is that gender roles still play a large role in society. The double standards that can be observed between men and women can create problems for both. One example of these double standards is how a man can sleep with many women and be cool, but women are looked down upon for this same behavior. In the James Bond movies, James Bond sleeps with several girls in almost every movie, yet both men and women perceive him as powerful and attractive. If James Bond were female, sleeping around would most likely be unacceptable and audiences would see it as weakness. There are many other ways that women are hurt by gender stereotypes, but instead I want to address how men are negatively impacted by these stereotypes as well.  Men are expected to be tough. Society looks down on a man who talks about his feelings. If a man is upset because of a comment made about him, it is not his place to have a discussion about it. A man is not supposed to share any of his feelings. He is allowed to get upset, but having a reasoned discussion will cause him to be perceived as “girly.” The issue of gender equality has been getting more attention is recent years, but there is still a long way to go before the issues discussed in The Scarlet Letter cease to be relevant to this modern era.

Allow me to play you out...

(in this song the male singer longs for a girl that is hardworking and intelligent, not just attractive)

Unfair portrayal of minorities

In class we discussed how Tonto was portrayed in a racist manner in The Lone Ranger TV show. We talked about how in order for this Native American to be portrayed favorably, he should be promoted to the status of hero along with the Lone Ranger himself, not just a side-kick. In this particular instance, I agree with this strategy. However, it is important to remember that making a minority a powerful character is not always the proper solution when it comes to a fair portrayal. For example, in the show Community, Britta is a strong female character. She is a former anarchist attending community college. The rest of the cast refers to her as "the worst" and she tends to be hypocritical and pretentious. She is not a "strong character" because she is a person with power, she is a strong character because her flaws give her a strong characterization. We don't necessarily need women and minorities to be portrayed as powerful, we just need them to be as dynamic and layered as possible. Another example is in the show The Wire. Omar is a black, gay character who steals from organized crime.

In the first season, his boyfriend is killed which is how the audience knows he is gay. If someone were to start watching from the second season, he would not know Omar's sexuality because it is not essential to the story from that point. He is one of the best characters on the show, neither because he is gay nor despite the fact that he is gay. However he is not a great person, he still is a criminal. I guess my point is this: regardless of a characters race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. they can play any character, good or evil, intelligent or stupid, independent or submissive, as long as they are well written and well portrayed instead of becoming a character archetype.

Allow me to play you out...

Racism in Huck Finn

"Good gracious! anybody hurt?"

"No'm. Killed a nigger."

"Well it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt." -Quote from Huck Finn 

When I read this line I was immediately reminded of Reservoir Dogs, as I had re-watched the movie only days earlier. Early in the movie, the main characters meet up after a diamond heist. The following exchange occurs:

1. Mr. Pink: You kill anybody?

1. Mr. White/Larry: A few cops.

1. Mr. Pink: No real people?

1. Mr. White/Larry: Just cops.

In the beginning of the movie, the criminals are introduced as normal, funny people. However it is in scenes such as this one later in the movie where the audience better understands how crazy these characters are. The obvious contradiction in both quotes is that cops are real people just as blacks are. In Reservoir Dogs the inclusion of this line points out that criminals like Mr. White and Mr. Pink don't think like normal people do. They have created a block in their mind, they can justify killing cops because they view it as a wholly different beast than killing innocent bystanders. In the same way, not thinking of blacks as people allows for them to be treated so poorly. Why should Mrs. Phelps feel remorse for the death of a black man? If she was allowed to feel remorse for that, she could possibly also come to feel guilty about the cruelty of slavery. The conclusion to be drawn here is that racism functions in the same way these criminals do, it warps reality to keep people from understanding fundamental truths. In this one line of dialogue in Huck Finn it is stated how even Mrs. Phelps, who is generally portrayed favorably, has fallen into this trap.

Allow me to play you out...